Slow Food USA

“Horticulture Therapy”: What are the Impacts of Gardens on Children with Behavioral Disorders?

Study 1: Garden Therapy & Special Needs Populations

Article Details Study Objectives Main Findings

Horticulture: Meeting the Needs of Special Populations by Diane Relf, Sheri Dorn (1995)

• “Horticulture therapy” refers to “anytime anyone gardens and feels, acts, or gets better under any conditions…” and often includes children’s, home, and hobby gardening particularly for those with disabilities

• Therapy often takes place in psychiatric hospitals, physical rehabilitation facilities & educational centers

• Gardening therapy is useful in helping disabilities such as psychiatric, geriatric, mental, physical, and social deviation

• Gardening helps overcome stress through plant nurturing which positively impacts children with disabilities or children who are at risk

• Some goals include rehabilitation, returning to the community at a functional level, maintenance of functioning level without institutionalization, and delayed progress of disability

The authors conclude that:

“children’s therapeutic gardening has gained momentum in the form of national programs that incorporate horticulture therapy or gardening into elementary school curriculums”

and

“that the therapeutic aspect of gardening is “the process itself, not the finished product”

Study 1: Garden Therapy & Special Needs PopulationsHorticulture: Meeting the Needs of Special Populations by Diane Relf, Sheri Dorn (1995)

“Horticulture therapy” refers to “anytime anyone gardens and feels, acts, or gets better under any conditions…”

Gardening helps overcome stress – plant nurturing positively impacts children with disabilities & at-risk youth

“Children’s therapeutic gardening has gained momentum in the form of national programs that incorporate horticulture

therapy or gardening into elementary school curriculums” (99)

Study 2: Garden Therapy with Special Education Adolescents

Article Details Study Objectives Main Findings

Horticultural Training for Adolescent Special Education Students by Douglas L. Airhart, Thomas Willis, and Pamela Westrick (1987)

• Program aim was to rehabilitate special education individuals to “qualify them for transitional employment” and to improve “behavioral and prevocational skills of adolescent students unable to attend regular high schools”

• Students were instructed in greenhouse management, garden tasks and horticultural activities, among interacting with the public and socializing.

Garden tasks included:

• Preparing and amending ground beds

• Propagating plants

• Controlling weeds

• Building a yearly compost heap

The authors conclude that:• The study suggests that there

are intellectual, social, emotional, and physical benefits that result from garden therapy and particularly in this program resulted in participants’ developing certain skills, becoming more self-sufficient, and improving their self-esteem

and that• “The horticulture industry is

beginning to recognize the benefits of hiring persons with disabilities. Horticultural training programs can provide the link between these two professions”

Study 2: Garden Therapy with Special Education AdolescentsHorticultural Training for Adolescent Special Education Students by Douglas L. Airhart, Thomas Willis, and Pamela Westrick (1987)

Aimed to rehabilitate special education

adolescents by improving behavioral & prevocational skills

Students learned greenhouse

management, gardening (plants,

weeds, garden beds) & related horticulture

activities

Garden Therapy

Components Garden therapy facilitated self-sufficiency & improves self-

esteem

Provided students with intellectual, social, physical, and emotional

benefits

Main Findings

Study 3: Garden Therapy for Children with Behavioral Disorders

Article Details Study Objectives Main Findings

Gardening as therapy for children with behavioral disorders by Marilyn McGinnis (1989)

• The authors first compiled a literature review on the effects of horticulture on hospital patients, suggesting “the usefulness of gardening for other patient populations” like children

• the program was implemented among 24 four-to-ten year old hospitalized children who had weekly garden group discussions & gardening tasks

Garden group discussions often were used to discuss personal problems the children experienced, and included experiences with teamwork, feelings about learning new skills, plant reproduction/anatomy & grief

• the gardening experience extended beyond just the gardening sessions as children would indicate their participation in home-gardening, drawing/writing about gardening, and “maintain[ed] its therapeutic value to them after discharge”

• this program demonstrated benefits to children with behavioral disorders in allowing patients to express themselves while also facilitating the nursing staff’s ability to assess their patients

• The authors emphasize the ease at which gardening programs can be implemented because of it is not costly, it does not require extreme expertise, and can even generate produce

• They concluded that “the benefits realized in this program imply that gardening is a therapeutic medium that psychiatric nurses can and should exploit in the treatment of children with behavioral disorders”

• The results of the study suggest that this type of program can be extended to the school setting to assist as therapy for children with behavioral and emotional disorders

Study 3: Garden Therapy for Children with Behavioral Disorders Gardening as therapy for children with behavioral disorders by Marilyn McGinnis (1989)

• Garden therapy program with 24 four-to-ten year old hospitalized children

• Weekly garden group discussions & gardening tasks

Garden Program

• Garden group discussions used for personal problems & garden experiences

• Gardening effects extended beyond the program to & home gardening drawing/writing about gardening

Program Objectives

• Program benefits indicate gardening’s therapeutic effects

• Suggest that program can & should extend to school setting

• Emphasize ease of creating program because of inexpensive features & limited experience necessary

Main Findings

“Horticulture Therapy”: What are the Impacts of Gardens on Children with Behavioral Disorders?

Garden Therap

y Progra

ms

Gardening helps overcome stress –

plant nurturing positively impacts

children with disabilities & at-risk

youth

Gardening effects extended beyond the program to & home gardening drawing/writing

about gardening

Emphasize ease of creating program

(inexpensive features & minimal

experience necessary)

Garden therapy facilitated self-sufficiency & improves self-

esteem